Did I do something wrong? More lessons learned the hard way.

I have not written a blog post in almost 3yrs.  That's right,I've been taking it easy for the last couple of years and have had nothing to write.  Ha, ha.  I guess the real reason is that I don't have an agenda for writing.  I have no book to sell, jokes to tell, or people to impress.  I just thought maybe I could write today to document an unfortunate event that happened. Where's the talk to text feature on this computer?  My fingers are already cramping.
Anyways, about a month ago I had a rental property that I could not reach the tenant anymore. I left him several messages and notes at the property. He even left a pitbull dog with no food that I had to contact Animal Control about. So what do I do? I decided to follow the law and post a notice of abandonment the 10th of the month and proceeded to wait. Still nothing from my tenant. The water and lights are now off from him not paying them. So yesterday, as the law allows in an abandonment situation, I finally went over and cleaned out the apartment and changed the locks. Junk couches, papers, food, and clothes all went into the trash. By the way the trashmen picked it all up yesterday.

     This morning as I was getting ready to go to the zoo with my family guess who called me? Willie. Why hello Willie, where have you been? He had all sorts of excuses but no good reason why the rent wasn't paid and he hadn't communicated with me. How do you think he took it when I told him that all his stuff had been removed and was gone forever with the trashmen. A few beeps, hateful words, and loud yelling, he hung up on me. Of course, this is my fault and how could I do such a thing but, oh no, I've done it now.
     Some people if you cross them will hire attorney. Most hood people however, won't do that unless they're going to sue you for millions. I figured Willie may take matters into his own hands and try to teach me a lesson--- he sure did.

      When I sent my maintenance man over there 30 minutes later, he had already 3 smashed windows and left. I then quickly called the police and proceed to ruin my patient wife's family-day plans. I was going to have to go over there to assess the problem and to try to protect the property from further damage. That's what I always try to do. I am a steward in the eyes of God and a property manager by day.  So I went over there and met the police lady, who was a waste of time by the way since the police don't care about small things like this. I talked to some neighbors and they confirmed that it was Willie. He had made me pay his way.
     So what could I have done better? How could I have managed this to a better outcome? The easy answer would be never to have rented to a person like this in the first place--But I did, and so I've been asking myself the question what could I have done differently. I think what I will do in the future is to still clean out the apartment to prepare it for re-rent, but I will keep any papers and anything of some value to the tenant and hold it as collateral to maybe get cooperation and forgiveness for me having to do my job. I know in a perfect world, maybe I could have kept the stuff in the apartment indefinitely with no communication from my tenant, but I had to move on and today I paid the price. The truth is, if all that happens from Willie is the broken windows and the drama then it was worth it. Do you honestly think a tenant like this would be a great one for the long run or that it would have ended badly another month down the road?
    Now I have to do another awol-tenant cleanout tomorrow at a different apartment.  Hopefully I do a better job. I don't want to get fired--or do I?   Josh

Pushing 32.

When I was about 22 I was very much into motivational tapes and cds and one of my favorite speakers was Zig Ziglar. He would extol the value of writing down your goals so that you have a target to try to hit. I set many of my midrange goals around the age benchmark of 32 yrs old. I am now 1 yr away. I would say that I am closer in many of the arease than I was @ 22, but still quite a ways off. Does that mean I am failing? Maybe in one definition, but not mine. I honestly feel if I am doing the best I can with my time and opportunities then I am not failing. Do I have room for improvement--for sure. I constantly am realizing how many resources I am wasting-time, money, materials, marketing ideas. I wonder have I done my best for Jesus. When I think about it in that light--as I should--I def could be doing better. I would rate myself a 69.5%. So what can I do better in. Dear diary... Even tonight we cleaned out some return items that I had hanging in my garage and a $1050 lowes store credit was the outcome. I also was thankful to get my yard raked today by a guy who rents a room from us. He worked hard all day moving many leaves and cost only a few bucks. It is a good thing to clean your car, garage, and yard. We'll see if I can write down more of my goals for this yr to do the best I can for the Lord and for my 10yr goal checkup.

Playpals go to the Air Show

There was an air show out at the beaches on Saturday, and Playpals attended! The Lord gave us a perfect day to enjoy the show! Here's our outing in pictures:

(Anyone with tips on how to take good self-shot and manage to capture everyone in the photo, please let me know.)

Collateral damage.

A bright spot-showing a recent project to my family!


Wouldn't it be nice that when failure strikes it could stike in an isolated way or place vs tripping down some stair and knocking down 3 others like closely stacked bowling pins. Or if your going to wreck, itsn't it better to wipe out in a vacant parking lot than on a busy 2 lane bridge where you cause traffic to grind to a halt-partly from debris and the rest from rubber neck drivers.

Try as we will to prevent it, a gernade going off in my back pocket will hurt me and people near me (friends and family).

I recently have had to make some tough choices in the interest of preserving future business viability that includes letting some properties go back to the various banks that lent money on them. The known ensuing damage included the loss of the property, credit, tenants and some collection difficulty and calls. The unintended results-mainly vigorous collection attempts by lenders that is sweeping through our widespread family is highly unfortunate and deeply disturbing and embarrasing.

So what should I do, tell everyone what I am having to do, or put out individual fires with appologies and explanations?

Being the boss is not the top job.

Remember when you were a kid and would say to yourself or others, "if I were in charge I would do it this way?" I remember saying that and some of my ideas were good. Well, now I have been the boss on my constuction rehabs and it's not so easy. In fact, I personally would rather just be given an assignment and be left to get it done-and I would get it done fast and well. However it is not in the cards right now for me to "relax and just work". This past week since I bought Wilcox, I have been working with several semi-skilled workers that need direction and assistance. Josh, where's this? What are we doing here? I lost or broke this and can you get another one-now? Can I get paid now for work I will do for you two years from now, and oh yes, cash please?

We are getting alot or work done, but it's not easy. Take a look at the mess.

We are basically taking the shell of a utility room and turning it into a 1 bed unit and renovating 3 other units at the same time. All the workers want me to give them much slack and freedom to work as they "see best", but sometimes I wonder if their "see best" is clouded by highs, hangovers and hurriedness. With my current crew, I have to be there or things will grind to a halt or I will have to spend time later on fixing things.

I have been thinking about ways that I can better manage my "chain gang". Inside joke as most of them have criminal records. If I had plans laid out ahead of time, I know that that would help, just as more prep for a speach makes it flow better upon delivery. My challenge here is that I don't have the construction knowlege to anticipate everything beforehand as I have to just adapt as I go along. I think when we get on to the "normal rehab" stuff that we will be on to soon, I think things will be easier. I was praying more today as I reached the end of my normal abilities. It all worked out and we got a bunch of work done. Today I spent $552 just on labor. Wow!

Life Lessons #2

If you're anything like me then the things you have learned the most from probably came out of the mistakes you've made. So let's take a little time together to reflect on these lessons and to profit from them.



Looking back over your life, what are the three most important lessons you've learned? You can focus this question on your life as a whole, on your business, on your investing, or any specific area of your life you choose.


Here's a few of my top life lessons: Most things end, often unexpectedly, so savor them now. Enjoy them now. Appreciate them now. Take more photographs; write more blogs. Keep reminding myself to truly savor my life right now.


Also, I am incredibly resilient. I can handle just about anything with God's help and my wifes support so let go of my worries and anxieties. I cannot control life but I can move gracefully through it. We are willing to start over again and if that is all that happens and you have your health and family, then it doesn't seem so bad.


What are some of your top life lessons?



Here are a few of my top business lessons: With the right "partners" anything is possible and easy. Partners may be team members, they may be joint venture partners, they may be advisors or mentors, or they may be actual partners. With the right people doors open, markets move, and value is easy to create and capitalize on.


Document, document, document! Most rough business moments could have been avoided by clarifying relationships and responsibilities better in writing. When in doubt, spell it out!


In the world of investing, here are some of my top lessons!


Value my cash more. When I have a lot of it I tend to discount its real worth. But it is precious, so spend it only when I am getting an incredible value.
Evaluate my investments against my written criteria, and run key investments past my advisors to have them make sure I am making my choices from my best and highest self, not from my greedy, "there's so much money to be made in this move" nor from my "I have to invest now or I'll lose out" selves.


Remember, you've already made your mistakes and paid for them. But by turning them into key lessons to guide your future behavior you transform the price you paid in your past into an investment that will yield huge payoffs for you--again and again.

I get to go to work.

It has been almost a week since I have written and I have spent thousands of dollars and spoken tens of thousands of words, but have I made a positive difference in others' lives? I am not a philosopher, but I am able to make simple observations. Like-I will not live forever, since everyone dies. I will get older and more feeble, since everyone does. What does this all mean?


I need to cherish my time and the people that I love like Jo and Noah and my family and my few friends.


The Fosters were here tonight and they were interested in looking over my portfolio of properties and the pics that I have taken along the way. I enjoyed showing them the visuals of years of work in just a few moments. The time seems to be a blur when you flip through the pics.



Earlier this week I got a call from a friend who had moved away from Jax about 1yr ago and he is trying to figure out what's next for him and his wife and whether they should move back here from ATL where they are living in a friends basement. He has been trying unsuccessfully to sell his home for about this whole year. I wish I could help him as I know the pain, but the only thing I could really say is that sometimes you have to walk away to be able to move on.

I know that this thinking (accepting premature financial failure to avoid the greater one down the road) flies in the face of others including my wife, but I know it is true. I would rather be graded by history for what I am ultimately able to accomplish for God and others rather than achieve less special thing but have people say when they saw me "he never gave up on anything before he lost everything trying to make something work out." Don't read me wrong, I want to succeed and win the fights, but I would rather quit a fight early and live to fight again rather than die trying to with a lost cause. Everyone must make their own line about what this really means. I would not slide this thinking into marraige as that IS a lifelong commitment (fight for some people-not me). I love my wife and appreciate her and her various convictions and concerns.